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Month: October 2015

I’m not a fan of guns. I have no burning desire to own or handle one. I don’t like being around one. Every time there is a mass shooting, everyone starts arguing over how to stop the “senseless violence” and gun control. We don’t need to control the guns. They just sit there. Until they are in the hands of the mentally ill. The mentally ill that we as a country REFUSE to treat. REFUSE to help. Thankfully most of you will never know what it is like to have a mentally ill child. Most of you will never be told by the professionals that yes, they understand that your child is violent and is a danger to your other children but unfortunately since they are not CURRENTLY attempting to hurt them (in that moment), there is nothing they can do. You will never have a psychiatric facility tell you that yes, they know that a few weeks is not enough time to actually help your child, but since they have followed the strict structure and have not attacked anyone in the last couple of days, insurance won’t pay any longer. You will never experience the elation of finally finding a facility that could possibly help….and then the letdown when you find that they cost upwards of $100,000 a year…..and don’t accept insurance. You won’t ever experience threatening- yes THREATENING- the professionals that if they send your child home knowing they are a danger and something happens, you will come for them- legally, through the media, whatever it takes- just to squeeze another month of services out of them. You won’t experience a therapist agreeing with you, shame and guilt in their face that YES, your child needs help but due to regulations, insurance, “privacy laws”, there is nothing they can do to help. But you might just know the anguish of a losing a child to a child like mine. A child we have desperately tried to get the help he needs- sometimes succeeding, sometimes not. We parents of mentally ill children are often villified- looked on as overly strict, overbearing, pushy, unrealistic. We may seem like we are freaking out over the smallest of issues. But we are trying to not only save our families, but yours as well. Mentally ill children who are not able to get the services they need, can very easily turn into mentally ill adults who kill. Are all mentally ill people dangerous? Of course not. But some are. And more could be under the right circumstances. I don’t like guns, but we don’t need gun control or gun laws. We need mental health CARE!!!